[ behold: a sweaty tiny man, holding onto a lever by a large, vibrating, metal thing, other hand to hip. he was completely serious about not stepping away from the thing. ]
See, I was trying to walk back what I'd done wrong, and then I sensed that something - someone - was afoot above, and that left me in quite the bind, as you can see. [ charles indicates, with a flourish, and the groaning thing beside him. ] You wouldn't happen to know what to do with this, do you?
[Alfred sighs and takes off his black suit jacket and begins to roll up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt.]
Looks like you've overloaded and overheated it, just hold onto that lever while I take a look.
[He instructs and hunkers down to undo the lower grate system and peer inside, muttering softly to himself before reaching inside. He hisses in pain for a second as he turns a short valve and steam hits his arm but soon the groaning starts to lessen.]
[ the whole time that alfred is working, charles is recounting the events of the rest of the night - his kitchen misadventure that led to the boiler room discovery, and the manual he'd had to find, the slight detour to get a drink of port because of course, and then the confusion regarding the levers and the knobs and oh, it's a lot of noise, it must be such hard work to maintain all of this daily— and the horrible part is charles means everything sincerely. all too genuinely.
were he not a telepath with an obscene amount of money at his disposal, he likely would be dead from a stupendously ridiculous misunderstanding.
he lets go, and very carefully, hooting in triumph when alfred succeeds where he has failed in fixing things. ]
You are a miracle worker, my good sir, this is wonderful! Thank you, Mister Pennyworth, and on such short notice—
[The only reason Alfred isn't giving Charles a good smack upside the head is because he is being so sincere and he can't really fault the boy for not knowing how a boiler works. It's not common knowledge, especially not for someone as rich as he is.]
You're very welcome sir, but perhaps next time you should just give your maintenance man a call before trying to fix it yourself.
[ he even sounds aghast, like the thought of calling the man for a few hours' work never crossed his mind. it hasn't; holidays are meant to be savoured, uninterrupted. ]
And I think we did very well for ourselves, have we not, Mister Pennyworth? The ah, interloping person aside. Cheers to us!
We could make him happier about it? Mr Pennyworth. Alfred — may I call you Alfred? — we could just ask him to forget it all. No harm done except to himself, yes?
And oh, no. Having been hurt worse before does not mean you're hurt any less. Let me see?
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[ behold: a sweaty tiny man, holding onto a lever by a large, vibrating, metal thing, other hand to hip. he was completely serious about not stepping away from the thing. ]
See, I was trying to walk back what I'd done wrong, and then I sensed that something - someone - was afoot above, and that left me in quite the bind, as you can see. [ charles indicates, with a flourish, and the groaning thing beside him. ] You wouldn't happen to know what to do with this, do you?
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Looks like you've overloaded and overheated it, just hold onto that lever while I take a look.
[He instructs and hunkers down to undo the lower grate system and peer inside, muttering softly to himself before reaching inside. He hisses in pain for a second as he turns a short valve and steam hits his arm but soon the groaning starts to lessen.]
All right, you should be able to let go now.
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were he not a telepath with an obscene amount of money at his disposal, he likely would be dead from a stupendously ridiculous misunderstanding.
he lets go, and very carefully, hooting in triumph when alfred succeeds where he has failed in fixing things. ]
You are a miracle worker, my good sir, this is wonderful! Thank you, Mister Pennyworth, and on such short notice—
Ah, is the gentleman upstairs alive?
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You're very welcome sir, but perhaps next time you should just give your maintenance man a call before trying to fix it yourself.
And yes, of course he is.
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[ he even sounds aghast, like the thought of calling the man for a few hours' work never crossed his mind. it hasn't; holidays are meant to be savoured, uninterrupted. ]
And I think we did very well for ourselves, have we not, Mister Pennyworth? The ah, interloping person aside. Cheers to us!
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[He repeats and grabs a near by rag to wipe his hands on, he then inspects his arm where the steam hit and motions that they can leave.]
I'm going to suggest we call the police to deal with the intruder and then perhaps we can have some tea.
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[ charles beckons for alfred to walk in step with him, taking visual stock of him and his steam-related injury. ]
You'll let me look at that first, at least? I am a doctor, after all.
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[Alfred flexes his hand a little.]
It's fine for now, I've been hurt a lot worse.
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And oh, no. Having been hurt worse before does not mean you're hurt any less. Let me see?
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[He sighs and shows Charles the burn, it isn't bad, just red and in need of some cool water.]
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[ optimism in endless amounts, truly. ]
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